Welt for boots or shoes.



No. 662,378. Patented Nov. 20, won. w. A. KNlPE.

WELT FOR BOOTS 0R SHOES.

(Application filed Oct. 10I 1800.) (No Model.)

Fig.1-

1) NVEINTEIR.

Mam

IINTTT STATES PATENT FFiQF-t WILLIAM A. KNIPE, OF HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS.

WELT FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 662,378, dated November 20, 1900.

Application filed October 10, 1900. Serial No. 32,639. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. KNIFE, of Haverhill, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Welts for Boots or Shoes, of which the following is a specificat-ion.

This invention relates to flexible strips,such as Welts used in the manufacture of boots and sh oes,and is applicable to McKay sewed work, in which a welt is interposed between the outersole and the upper, and for welted work, in which the upper and inner sole are stitched to the welt, and for any class of work in which a welt is used. The invention may also be embodied in a rand forming a part of a heel or in a strip adapted for use as a shank thickener or doubler.

The invention has for its object to provide a welt the inner edge portion of which shall be snfiiciently flexible to enable it to be bent in conformity to the sole of a boot or shoe without forming folds or puckers and without interrupting the continuity of the welt.

The invention consists in a welt-strip having transverse slits extending from its inner edge partly across the strip, said slits being inclined relatively to the sides of the strip and subdividing the inner portion of the strip into tongues or sections which overlap each other, so that when the inner edge of the strip is bentto form asalient curve, as at the shank portion, there will be no gaps or interruptions of the continuity of the welt, and when the strip is bent to give its inner edge a reentrant curve, as at the toe and heel portions, there will be no wrinkling or pnckering of the inner edge of the strip.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a side view of a welt-strip bent into conformity with the sole of a boot or shoe, said strip embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a perspective view of a straight portion of the strip. Figs. 3 and at represent perspective views of curved portions of the strip, the

curvature of the inner edge in Fig. 3 being salient, while in Fig. i it is ree'ntrant. Fig. 5 represents a side view of the strip as used for a shank thickener or doubler. Fig. 6 represents a side view of the strip as used for a heel-rand.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, a represents a welt-strip which is preferably of uniform thickness from one edge to the other and is composed of a single thickness of leather, its outer edge being adapted to be trimmed and molded or set by suitable trimming and edge-setting tools. slits b 5, extending from the inner edge partly across the strip, the outer edge of the strip being continuous or uncut. The said slits are inclined relatively to the sides of the strip and separate the inner portion of the strip into tongues, each of which is practically rhoinboidal in crosssection and overlaps the adjoining tongue, as indicated in Figs. 2, 3, and at. This construction enables the strip to be bent freely into the sole shape shown in Fig. 1 without forming wrinkles or puckers and Without forming slits or openings extending directly across the thickness of the strip, so that there is no part of the strip through which a needle or a fastening device can pass without penetrating a considerable portion of the uncut material of the strip. In other words, there are no gaps, notches, or slits through which a needle can pass without penetrating a substantial portion or portions of the strips. The strip is therefore made flexible without being open to the objection that ex ists to strips which are provided with notches in their inner portions formed by cutting out V-shaped pieces of the material of the strip. In my improved strip no material is removed, the flexibility being secured by the inclination of the slits which permits the tongues to slip edgewise one upon another, as clearly indicated in the drawings.

When the strip is bent to give its inner edge a reentrant curve, as shown in Fig. l, each tongue slides to a certain extent over or upon the next with a movement which may be termed telescopic, the extent to which each tongue overlaps the neXt being increased without giving the inner edge of the strip any considerable or objectionable increase of thickness and without forming wrinkles or folds.

The strip is provided with transverse When the strip is bent to give its inner edge 7 When the strip is used for welted work, in which the welt, upper, and inner sole are connected by an inner seam, the slits are prefer- .ably made shorter than for McKay-sewed work, so that the inner-seam stitches will be formed wholly in the solid or uncut portion of the welt, the slits preventing the formation of ridges and puckers at the abruptly-curved portions, as at the toe, so that the inner edge of the welt lies smoothly and enables the outer sole to be easily leveled. This smoothness of the inner edge of the welt in McKay-sewed work is very advantageous, the welt furnishing a smooth seat for the marginal portion of the outer sole Without bending or distorting the same in any Way., The welt ordinarily used for McKay-sewed work is wedge-shaped in cross-section, its outer edge being thick, while its inner edge is very thin. The welt does not therefore furnish a level seat for the sole, but presents an inclined seat, to which the outer sole is bent during the operation of securing it, the sole being thus distorted, rendering the leveling operation difficult. My improved welt, on the other hand, is not decreased in thickness at its inner edge and at the same time is not wrinkled or puckered, So that it furnishes a very desirable non-distorting seat for the sole. The improved Welt forms a space for the filling material between the outer and inner soles, which is of uniform depth and can be easily and neatly filled by strips or pieces of the same edge thickness as the welt. My improvement enables the strip to be made of less expensive leather than is required for an ordinary welt.

' In Fig. 5 I show a strip embodying my invention extending along the shank and terminating at the rear end of a tuck or middle sole 5, the strip here shown being called a shank-doubler.

In Fig. 6 I show thestripformed as a heelrand.

I am aware that the inner edge portion of a folded pipingstrip interposed between parts of a boot or shoe upper has been provided with slits which are inclined relatively to the sides of the strip. A piping-strip in a completed boot or shoe is essentially very narrow, and is, in fact, so narrow that it is eage /s necessary to trim off the slitted portion or the greater part thereof before the completion of the boot or shoe. The only function of the slitted portion of a piping-strip is to give the strip flexibility and enable it to be conveniently manipulated during the operation of stitching the parts together. The slitted portion in a piping-strip therefore is not a permanent part of the boot or shoe. Moreover, a folded piping-strip presents as its outer edge the fold of the strip, and said edge is therefore not adapted to be trimmed and molded or set by trimming and edge-set ting tools. Hence such folded strip is not adapted for use as a Welt.

I use the term welt-strip in its broadest sense and intend it to include any analogous strip the-inner edge portion of which forms a permanent part of a boot or shoe, such as the shank-doubler (shown in Fig. 5) and the heel-rand. (Shown in Fig. 6.)

I am aware that the flange of a heel-stiffener has been provided with inclined slits, as shown in Letters Patent No. 189,126, and that the edge of an upper has been provided with inclined slits, as shown in Letters Patent No. 564,931.

I claim- A welt-strip composed of asingle thickness of material of uniform thickness from edge to edge, adapted to be trimmed and molded at its outer edge, and having transverse slits extending from its inner edge partly across the strip, which slits are inclined relatively to the sides of the strip, and subdivide the inner portion of the strip into rhomboidal tongues, each of which overlaps the adjacent tongue, the portion subdivided by said slits constituting a permanent part of a boot or shoe, adapted to form a non-distorting seat or bearing for an outer sole, without losing its continuity as a fastener-receiving portion of the welt, when the welt is bent to give its inner edge a salient curve.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. KNIPE.

Witnesses:

O. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRISON. 

